CANADA STOCKS-TSX stumbles after climbing to 3-week high

Reuters Staff

3 Min Read

* TSX off 47.61 points, or 0.38 pct, at 12,527.18
* 9 of 10 main sectors weaker
* Centerra skids 19 pct after mine forecast slashed
By Jennifer Kwan
TORONTO, March 27 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index
sank on Tuesday morning, led lower by energy and materials
shares on weaker commodity prices after having climbed to a
three-week peak on hopes that the Federal Reserve would take
further action to stimulate the U.S. economy.
The key sectors on the downside were the hefty energy group,
down 0.8 percent, and materials, lower by 0.7 percent as the
price of oil, gold and base metals retreated.
Big names on the downside included Centerra, which
plummeted 19 percent to C$13.05 as the Canadian miner slashed
its forecast for 2012 production at its flagship mine in
Kyrgyzstan by about a third due to ice movement in the pit, a
decline sure to weigh on the fragile economy of the Central
Asian state.
Also lower was Cenvous, down 1 percent at C$36.20,
and Suncor Energy, which dropped 1.2 percent at C$32.74
as the price of oil fell. First Quantum sank 1.8 percent
to C$18.85.
Marcus Xu, director of equity investments at Genus Capital
Management in Vancouver, said it's no surprise to see the market
give back a bit after its recent run-up.
"If you have a negative view on the market going forward
profit-taking might kick in," he said.
At around 11:15 a.m. (1515 GMT), the Toronto Stock
Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was off 47.61
points, or 0.38 percent, at 12,527.18.
It had climbed to a high of 12,603.71 shortly after the
open, its strongest level since Mar. 5, on lingering effects of
comments by U.S. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.
Bernanke said on Monday the U.S. economy needs to grow more
quickly to get unemployment down, leading investors to take on
more risk on hopes the central bank could conduct another round
of quantitative easing.
Elsewhere in company news, Canadian Pacific Railway,
down 0.5 percent at C$78.49, was in the spotlight as an investor
day meeting is being held in Toronto at which CP will lay out
more details of a multi-year plan to improve its performance and
the company's defense in a proxy battle with U.S. activist
shareholder William Ackman.
Enbridge Inc, up 0.3 percent at C$38.36, said it
and Enterprise Products Partners LP will more than
double the capacity of the Seaway Pipeline and expand another
line from Illinois, further easing a major oil glut in the
United States.